Why airlines shunned the smallest Airbus A350

Updated 9:03 pm, Tuesday, July 15, 2014

An Airbus A350 wide-body is popular with airlines. The smaller version is not selling as well.

An Airbus A350 wide-body is popular with airlines. The smaller version is not selling as well.

Photo: Balint Porneczi, Bloomberg

Why airlines shunned the smallest Airbus A350

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The fuel-efficient Airbus A350, brimming with the type of exotic carbon-composite technologies Boeing introduced on the 787 Dreamliner, has been a strong seller. Airbus has collected 708 orders for the two larger models in the A350 family, which can hold as many as 369 seats.

It is a far more dismal story for the smallest version of the Airbus plane. The A350-800, a 276-seat model, has only 34 orders so far. "It's dead, but still valiantly holding on in its fight to remain undead," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. He said he expects Airbus to scrap the smallest A350 as it announces a revamped A330, possibly at the Farnborough Air Show this week in England. That new airplane would carry more than 300 people and help Airbus better compete with Boeing's smaller 787s.

Airbus is telling prospective customers that the updated A330neo ("neo" stands for "new engine option") will be 14 percent more fuel efficient than the current A330, with a larger, upgraded Rolls-Royce engine. The new motor would give the plane about 400 miles more range over the existing A330, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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The A330neo could attract interest from Delta Air Lines, which is assessing proposals for new wide-body aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, as well as AirAsia, a fast-growing Malaysian discount carrier. Another potential buyer is Hawaiian Airlines, the only U.S. customer for the A350-800, with an order for six it placed in 2007. "Since that aircraft may not be produced we are evaluating our options," Hawaiian spokeswoman Alison Croyle said.

At one point Airbus had planned to design a new wing for the smaller A350 but ultimately decided to keep it the same and shrink it, says Scott Hamilton, an aviation blogger and analyst with Leeham. "So now you have a shrink, and a shrink is never an optimal solution," he said.

"It's a turkey of an idea," Aboulafia says of the plane. Most airlines seem to agree.